


Mass Destruction

by obiwanken5



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Game Spoilers, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-28 22:45:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8465818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obiwanken5/pseuds/obiwanken5
Summary: Nathan Shepard needs to make a choice that will change the galaxy forever. Here's what he thinks of that...





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure if any of the Archive Warnings applied to this, as it's pretty much just Shepard's thoughts at the end of ME3 before picking the "Destroy" option. Please let me know if anything needs tagging. 
> 
> This was written for the N7 Month Challenge on Tumblr.

The Catalyst had just finished explaining the purpose and functions of the Crucible, and Nathan Shepard could only stand there and blink. He was exhausted, mentally and physically; he was wounded, and probably bleeding out. And after all the bullshit of the last four years, it came down to _this_. Three fucking choices. Control the Reapers, merge all organic life with synthetic and thus override the Reaper’s protocols, or destroy the assholes.

In the long seconds after the strange-looking child fell silent, Shepard’s mind flashed back to the start of the mission that began this insane journey: Eden Prime. It was supposed to have been a simple reconnaissance mission, wherein Nihlus Kryik was to observe Shepard’s performance for possible recommendation to the Council for Shepard’s inclusion into the Spectres. In the long-standing tradition of simple reconnaissance missions, however, the whole thing went to hell, resulting in Nihlus’s death, the exposure of a traitor, and the discovery of a lifetime.

Not for the first time did Shepard wish he had never set foot on that accursed planet.

Even after Shepard had defeated Saren, and the combined Alliance and Citadel Council forces took out Sovereign, no one chose to take the greater threat of the Reaper invasion seriously. And so Commander Shepard had been diverted to cleaning up the geth resistance because they, apparently, were the real threat. Shepard died for the Council’s mistrust and misguided pandering, and Garrus was right. All it did was piss him off. A lot.

So when the Reapers finally attacked the galaxy, the only thing that killed the resounding _“I told you so”_ on his lips was the sight of his native planet being systematically destroyed. And the more devastation he witnessed on each subsequent planet he visited after that, the retort was buried further and further inside him, until it became a knot of anger and fear.

And now the damn technology that was supposed to save them from total annihilation was suggesting that Shepard might not _want_ to destroy the Reapers? Was it fucking kidding?

The Catalyst cocked its head to one side as it regarded the Commander’s dead-eyed stare. Shepard spat out a mouthful of blood as he reflexively gripped the pistol still clinging to his hand. He wasn’t sure how he’d managed to hang on to it in the first place; maybe it had something to do with the rage that was still coiling inside him.

 _Rage is a hell of an anaesthetic,_ another voice from his past offered. Shepard finally understood what that meant.

With great effort, Nathan began to shuffle forward toward the red column up the ramp to his right. When he got into range, he lifted the gun and willed himself to grip it tight enough to survive the recoil of the shot. With each bullet he fired, a face flashed before his eyes: those that had died in his service, following their Commander on what many in the galaxy had originally thought of as a fool’s errand. Pressly, Jenkins, Kaidan, Thane, Anderson…each bullet was christened with a face and a name as it exited the chamber and flew through the stale air. A final _fuck you_ from those that had dared to defy the Reapers with everything they had, and had lost.

Shepard knew he would never have enough ammo to appease and avenge the dead, so as the final round was set loose, he dedicated it to himself, on Ashley’s behalf. Ash would have to forgive him for dying, some day. At least she’d know he went out by taking the enemy with him.

As the explosion rocked the Crucible into firing, and the super-heated gases rushed toward him, Nathan Shepard - N7 soldier, first human Spectre, and saviour of the galaxy - sent one last thought into the universe for Ashely Williams:

 _The darkness drops again but now I know_  
That twenty centuries of stony sleep  
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,  
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,  
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 


End file.
